Teddy Bear's Picnic
by Simply-Buffy-Guild
Summary: It's a regular night in Sunnydale with Buffy, Dawn, and Joyce. What will happen when they are plagued by violent nightmares, and a neglected teddy bear with revenge on his mind?
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Nothing here is ours, except for Benji.

Rating: PG 13 for a couple swear words.

Pairing: A little B/A.

Timeline: Right before Buffy leaves for college, beginning of season 4.

Author's Note: This is based on a wonderfully insane little roleplay done by three members of the Simply Buffy Guild. Here is the original cast penname in parentheses):

Erin (buffygirl52789): Dawn and Joyce

Kitty (Sanity Fair): Benji and Angel

Amanda (lilsoccercutie55): Buffy

This fic will be continued as we proceed with the rp! We would appreciate feedback!

> > > > >

"Buffy, you're leaving for college tomorrow and I don't want you to leave things on a bad note! Please apologize to your sister," Joyce said sternly.

"She needs to apologize too," Buffy insisted. By this point she could barely remember what they had been fighting about. Just another night in the Summer's house.

"Fine, I'm sorry," Dawn said with a dramatic sigh.

Buffy couldn't help but crack a smile. "I'm sorry too." She reached out and gave her sister a hug. "But that doesn't mean I'll miss you."

"Buffy!" Joyce gasped.

"I'm only kidding!" Buffy pulled back to look at her sister. "Tell you what, you can sleep in my bed with me tonight if you want."

Dawn smiled a little. "Okay. Just let me get my stuff." She headed down the hall to her room.

Joyce gave her older daughter a hug. "It's going to be so strange not having you around the house," she sighed.

"I won't be far," Buffy reminded her.

Dawn came back down the hall, dressed in pajamas and holding a small white teddy bear. "I'm going to bed."

"I'm coming too," Buffy said, giving her mom a kiss on the cheek. "I'll see you in the morning."

"Good night girls," Joyce said before retiring to her own room.

Buffy changed into her own pajamas and climbed into the bed with Dawn. "Good night Dawnie."

"Night Buffy," Dawn said, already curled up with her bear.

Buffy rolled over and soon fell asleep. She rested peacefully for a while before the dream began.

_Vampires. Vampires everywhere, surrounding her. She wasn't tied down in any way, but she was glued to the spot and could not move, couldn't defend herself. She screamed. _

Dawn awoke with a start as her sister moaned next to her. "Buffy?" she hesitantly placed a hand on her shoulder, and fell back in shock when her sister flung out an arm, hitting Dawn. "Ow, Buffy that hurt!" Mumbling something incoherent, Buffy rolled over violently, knocking Dawn off the bed. She hit the floor with a hard thud. "Okay, that's it!" she said loudly. She ran around the other side of the bed and shook Buffy. Her sister began to scream loudly, wrapped up in the dream where vampires were torturing her. Dawn shook her harder, calling her name, but her sister would not wake up.

> > > > >

Benji, the old teddy bear with the missing eye was sitting on top of Dawn's bed, and he was mad. Why did she always choose the nicer stuffed animals to be her bed buddy. Why, Why? And so he sat, plotting evil.

> > > > >

"Buffy?" Dawn asked in alarm as she screamed. "It's just me! Wake up!" Buffy let a fist fly thinking it was a vampire, instead it was Dawn's face. This caused it to make a loud cracking noise. Dawn gasped as she felt her nose break.

Joyce got up when she heard the scream. "Buffy? Dawn? What happened?" she asked frantically, rushing into the bedroom.

> > > > >

Something very peculiar was happening to Benji, however. It seemed that on a full moon in the middle of winter when two sisters fought teddy bears would have a picnic. And come to life...

> > > > >

Buffy stood up still dreaming, she started kicking Dawn, and her fist flying out at her. Dawn started to cry, holding her nose and trying to crawl away.

"BUFFY!" Joyce yelled. "Buffy, wake up!"

Buffy grabbed a hold of Dawn's hair, and yanked her back, shouting. "You son of a bitch, leave me alone!" she cried out at Dawn, still thinking she was a vampire.

"OW!" Dawn screeched, sobbing loudly now. "Buffy, please!" She managed to tear herself away, running for the hallway.

Buffy fell on the floor again, gasping for breath.

Joyce rushed to her older daughter's side. "Buffy? Buffy can you hear me?"

> > > > >

Benji hopped out of the closet where that wicked girl, Dawn, had tossed him and shook his furry body off. He then made his way down the hallway.

> > > > >

Buffy started to convulse, her body shaking terribly, and blood running from her ears and nose.

Frantic, Joyce ran to the bedside table where there was a bottle of water. She splashed it on Buffy, hoping to wake her up.

The water made Buffy shake even more, until she finally fell into a deep sleep.

Dawn sat in the hallway, curled up against the wall. The hand she held over her nose had blood on it, and her hair really hurt where Buffy had pulled it.

"Buffy?" Joyce said as her daughter fell still. She reached out and shook her with no response. "Buffy?"

Benji made his way into Buffy's room where he saw quite a scene. _Very interesting_, he thought, his only black button eye focused on the small white teddy Dawn had been sleeping with. He narrowed his one eye and walked further.

Dawn was so busy thinking about the pain that she didn't see her old teddy bear walk into her sister's room as if he was alive.

> > > > >

_Buffy looked around, it was quiet where she was. The sun shone above her, while butterflies and birds sung their songs. She smiled. Everything seemed so perfect here. In the distance she saw a man, he looked strangely familiar. She realized then it was Angel._

> > > > >

So this is the little prick that has replaced me, a stupid small teddy, Benji thought. This only made him angrier.

Giving up on Buffy, Joyce rushed to her other daughter. "Dawnie. Oh God, you're bleeding.

Dawnie, Buffy's not waking up. We need to do something."  
"Call the hospital?" Dawn suggested wearily. She tried to pinch her nose to stop the bleeding, but cried out when a sharp pain shot though her. "I think my nose is broken," she cried.

Benji made his way up to the night stand and began to shimmy up the side, hellbent on teaching Dawn a lesson.

> > > > >_  
Buffy walked over to him, and embraced him in a hug. _

"I've been waiting for you," Angel said wrapping his arms around her. "So very long."

"Where are we Angel, where is my family? And why are you here?" Buffy was so confused, but so happy at the same time.

"We're exactly we need to be," Angel said, "It's our destiny. Your family can't come and I'm here because this is where I belong. We're where all of the fighters go."  
"Angel, am I dead?" she asked quietly, fearing the answer that awaited her.  
"That's one way of looking at it," He said shrugging, "But, I prefer to say that we're moving on."

"Where are we Angel, where is my family? And why are you here?" Buffy was so confused, but so happy at the same time. 

> > > > >

"Okay. Let me call 911," Joyce said, trying to remain calm. She turned around to reenter the room.

Benji fell into an open drawer and cursed, but then he noticed someone had placed a pair of scissors in the drawer. This made Benji very happy. He grabbed them and continued up.

Joyce reentered the room and started to head for the phone when she heard a faint noise coming from the other side of the bed. She turned around and screamed as she saw a teddy bear climb up onto the bed, holding a pair of scissors.

"Mom, what is it," Dawn said, struggling to her feet and rushing back into the room. She screamed too when she saw the malicious eye gleaming back at her while the scissors gleamed.

> > > > >

_"Moving on to what, as far as I'm concerned I'm not ready to move on. I want to be with my family Angel, this place just doesn't seem right. Not without all my family and friends here with me. Who will protect them, or the world?" Buffy asked. _

"You did what you were chosen to do," Angel said taking her hands in his. "You have fought long enough. There will be another to take over."

> > > > >

Benji looked over and screamed as well. He didn't remember humans being this big before. Maybe it was because of all the years he had been the closet thanks to that wicked girl. But no matter what he was on a mission and so he continued.  
Joyce felt as if she might have a heart attack. "Dawnie, what is he doing?" she cried.  
Dawn looked at him sideways. He looked vaguely familiar...she remembered! "Benji?" she gasped.

Benji opened his mouth not sure if they could understand him or not. "Of course it's me! You threw me out Dawn, I was your sweet Benji, the one you practiced "slayer" with." He motioned to his missing eye. "But, I'm back," he said walking after her, "Back for forever, just like you wanted. We can finally be happy."  
Dawn's eyes widened as he spoke. "Benji, why do you have scissors?"

> > > > >  
_"You left me Angel, and now you think I'm going to just forgive you, and take you back as if you never broke my heart. That isn't going to happen." Buffy walked away, not really knowing where to go. "What I wanted was for you to never leave me. What I wanted was for you to have no doubt about us. I never got that though, and maybe I don't want it anymore," she said now running away from him. _

Angel stared and said something very strange, "You will never leave me. You can never leave me."

Buffy was taken back by Angel appearing before her. She pushed him and shouted. "I will leave you, just like you left me! Over and over again!"

> > > > >

"To knit you a sweater with," he said sarcastically and shouted, "To kill you with!"  
Dawn felt very scared. She grabbed her mother's arm and ran downstairs. "Mom, what the hell is going on?"  
"I don't know baby. But Buffy is still unconscious up there, with that...that thing!" she cried.  
Dawn's eyes widened. She had forgotten that her sister was still up there. "Oh no. But he wants me, he wouldn't hurt Buffy, right?"

"You told me you loved me," Benji shouted, doing his best to climb off the bed, then falling off with a loud thump. His little legs scampered after them. "You are a liar! You are a liar and now you have to pay."

> > > > >

_"And so it goes.." Angel said sadly, "Over and over again." _

"You aren't Angel, you are a teddy bear," she shouted as the once Angel turned into a cute teddy bear with green glowing evil eyes!

> > > > >

Dawn shrieked as she heard him following them. She grabbed Joyce and ran to the kitchen.  
"The back door," Joyce cried, running to it.  
"Mom, hurry," Dawn moaned, hearing Benji's little footsteps growing closer.  
Benji laughed. "All I wanted was for you to love me, Dawnie, but you chose the younger cuter toys instead. "  
"No, Benji, I do love you! You can be my best friend again! But please, just put down the scissors," she begged. Joyce struggled with the back door, but it was jammed.  
"More lies," he said hoisting the scissors up. "What about my eye Dawn. You said you would get me a new one."  
"And I will! I promise I will, just please, don't hurt us," she begged.

> > > >

TBC! Please review and let us know what you think!


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Benji narrowed his one eye and looked around, then shouted, "WELL THEN DO IT NOW, DAWN. MAKE ME A NEW EYE!"

"Okay! I will," Dawn said trembling. She moved cautiously to the closet where her mother kept her sewing basket. "I'll make you a new eye." She pulled out a blue button and some thread with shaking hands. Meanwhile, Joyce stood cautiously near the back door.

"DAWN," Benji yelled waving the scissors in her general direction, "I do NOT like the color blue, blue is the color of the sky! I've never seen the sky Dawn, thanks to you. I want my eye black...like my cold dead heart!" 

"Okay! I think there's a black button in here somewhere," Dawn said, trying to hold back her frightened tears. She pulled one out and held it up. "Here's a black one, this can be your new eye." She started to thread the button, which was hard with shaking hands. She then realized that she was going to have to get close enough to him to sew it on.

Benji watched intently, "Ahh yes, that will do." He noticed she kept looking over at him and then back at the thread. His little cotton heart began to beat faster, he clutched the scissors and waved them wildly at her. "Don't you try anything with that sharp stick of death!"

> > > > >

_Buffy fell on a rock, and hit the ground hard. She squinted her eyes, and Angel was himself again. "Are you going to hurt me?" _

_"Not much." He grinned, walking toward her. "At least, not if you do what I say." _

> > > > >

Dawn flinched as Benji waved the scissors menacingly. "No, I'm only making you a new eye like you asked me to. Here, it's done," she said, meekly holding it out, the threaded button still attached to the needle, foolishly hoping that he would put it on himself. 

Benji looked at her and then back at the needle. He held up his little furry hands. "I can't grasp..." It was in that moment that Benji looked sad, as sad as a small stuffed teddy bear could, but he quickly regained himself. He walked over to Dawn and hopped in her lap, holding the scissors to her face. "Okay, I'm ready, put on my eye, but if you try anything..."

Dawn flinched as Benji waved the scissors menacingly. "No, I'm only making you a new eye like you asked me to. Here, it's done," she said, meekly holding it out, the threaded button still attached to the needle, foolishly hoping that he would put it on himself.Benji looked at her and then back at the needle. He held up his little furry hands. "I can't grasp..." It was in that moment that Benji looked sad, as sad as a small stuffed teddy bear could, but he quickly regained himself. He walked over to Dawn and hopped in her lap, holding the scissors to her face. "Okay, I'm ready, put on my eye, but if you try anything..." 

Dawn couldn't help but feel a little sympathy for her old bear as she saw the sadness cross his little furry face, but then she snapped back to reality. She was being forced to sew a new eye onto her scissor-brandishing very alive neglected stuffed animal. Only in Sunnydale.  
Hesitating a little, she poked through his fur with the needle in the spot where his old eye had once been, carefully attaching the button.

Benji shuddered as the needle went in and out, in and out, with each prick it was like an electric bolt running all throughout his cotton filled body. He never knew being alive could also be so painful. But, it would all be worth it, maybe after his new eye...maybe Dawn would finally love him.  
"HURRY UP," he shouted to her, never letting go of the scissors.

> > > > >

_"Angel what the hell are you? I know you're not really him, cause if you were I couldn't do this," she said shoving her cross necklace off her neck and into his face. _

Angel looked at the cross and smiled, "Tsk Tsk Tsk, I would have expected something smarter from you."

"What, you can't hurt me," Buffy yelled. "I am a slayer, if you just forgot that tiny fact."

Angel laughed, "Oh I can, just not the way your hoping I will."

> > > > >

"There, there, I'm done," Dawn said quickly, tying off the string. "Can you please put down the scissors now? I made you a new eye, just like you asked."

Benji looked up at Dawn and then blinked his new eyes a few times. He smiled to himself, but did not let go of the scissors. If getting an eye had been this easy, how much more could he have the evil girl do? Money, girls, girl bears, anything and everything would be at his furry grasp.

"Um, Benji? I made you a new eye, can you please put the scissors down now?" Dawn said nervously, uncomfortable with the very close proximity of the bear, who was still sitting in her lap. "I thought you wanted to be friends again. We can be, if you just put them down."

"Friends," he repeated as if the word was foreign to him. He thought for a moment and then shook his little head slowly, "Okay..." He handed her the scissors.

Dawn smiled a little, slowly taking the scissors from him and placing them in a kitchen drawer. "There. That's good." She glanced around awkwardly, unsure of what was going to happen next. She looked at her mother, who was still cowering near the back door, looking frightened, and then back at Benji.

Benji looked up at Dawn, his little bear ears twitching nervously. He looked at her expectantly...hopefully. He had hoped she would keep her promise, that they could truly be friends. That he could spend winter nights snuggled up to her watching old movies which Dawn would always made fun of, that she would take him to the beach like she did when she was little and bury him in the sand or make a small lopsided castle just for him, maybe he could comfort her when she was sick or afraid, and Benji didn't even mind it if she played 'Slayer' again, even it cost him his new eye. But, somehow looking into her eyes he didn't think she would keep her word. After all, he HAD just tried to kill her with a pair of scissors.

> > > > >

_"Okay what do you want, because I know you're not Angel. So show your true face, or are you too much of a coward?" Buffy asked walking over to him, showing him she had no fear. _

Angel grinned, "Are you sure you want to see my true face?"

"Of course, did you not hear what I just said?" Buffy said angrily, clenching her fists to the point she swore she felt blood.

Angel grinned and reached up to the back of his head, then without warning he yanked his head and pulled off his skin entirely revealing a black mist of some kind.

"Now you see me," The mist said evilly, "Now you don't." Then with a pop it was gone.

> > > > >

Dawn cautiously picked up Benji, and stood him up on the floor. She glanced at her mother before looking down at him. "So...what do you want to do now?" She didn't know what she was doing, and she had a feeling she would regret asking that question. A part of her felt really bad that she had upset the bear so much. He _was_ adorable, but then she remembered that he had tried to kill her with scissors. She was torn. She didn't know if she should be formulating a plan to get rid of Benji, or really try and be his friend again, and hope that he stopped being evil.

Once Benji's little feet hit the floor he began to pace up and down the kitchen, occasionally glancing over at Joyce and Dawn as he did. He rubbed his little furry chin thoughtfully until finally he looked back up at Dawn. "Your sister," he said simply, looking up at her. He knew now why Dawn had discarded him like some bad piece of meat. It wasn't just because of all the other little prettier toys, it was because of her sister. Buffy was the cause of all of this.

Dawn glanced worriedly at Joyce. Until Benji had spoke she had almost forgotten that her sister was still unconscious upstairs! "What about Buffy?" Dawn asked nervously.

"She's dying," the little bear said simply.

> > > > >

TBC! Thanks for reading, and please review!


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Dawn froze. "Benji, do you know what happened to Buffy? Why do you think she's dying?"

"Dawn, do you know who made me?" The bear asked thoughtfully while twitching his little furry ears, "Hmmm, do you?" Sighing quite sadly he leaned back and lifted up his little foot so that she could see what was printed there.

Dawn leaned in and peered at the writing that was etched into his little fuzzy foot. She looked back at him. "But what does that have to do with my sister?"

Benji looked at his little foot and then frowned, "It's smeared, because of all the times you never cleaned me," his voice was bitter, but he did not resort to shouting hoping they could still be friends. He leaned over and wiped his little foot. "Now you can see it," he said raising his foot once more. On his foot you could clearly see, 'Prop. Of E. Rayne.'

"E Rayne..." Dawn thought for a moment. "Oh my God, Ethan Rayne, Ethan Rayne who turned us into our costumes at Halloween!" She realized that this was a solid explanation for the events that had occurred this evening...but she still didn't understand something. "Benji, I still don't understand what this has to do with my sister."

Benji sighed and scratched the back of his little furry head with his paw. "It's tonight, on a full moon in the middle of winter when two sisters fight, I can come to life, he planned it. He put the spell on me, but..." Benji's voice trailed off and he looked almost saddened, "There is a balance to that. I can't come to life without, well...someone dying."

Dawn's eyes widened. "But maybe it's not Buffy! My sister can't die. Benji, what else do you know? Is there any way to reverse the spell?" She instantly regretted her words. She had just implied that she wanted to make the bear an inanimate object again!

I KNEW IT! YOU WANT ME DEAD!" He glared at her and then dove his little body towards the scissors, but because they were way out of reach he landed on the floor with a thud. He glared again in Dawn's general direction and then raced toward the stairs.

"Oh crap," Dawn muttered. "Nice one Dawn." She briefly considered calling after Benji, but decided it would be a waste of breath. She turned to her mother. "We need a plan. And fast. Buffy's in trouble." She ran to the phone on the wall. "I'm calling 911."

Benji ran up the stairs and into Buffy's room. When he saw the slayer he walked over to her and peered into her face. Then, very slowly he took his little bear paws and held them over her nose and mouth.

> > > > >

_Buffy shrieked, and fell down, letting the flowers in the field surround her. Then she yelled out to no one in particular. "Where am I? What do you want?" _

She ran into a part of the woods, looking around frantically. She had no idea where she was, or what to do. She was running too fast though, and clumsily tripped over a root in the ground. She landed on the hard dirt with a thud. "Ahhhhh," she screamed in frustration, her possibly broken ankle throbbing painfully. "What else could go wrong?" she asked aloud.

_She then started to get panic when she felt she couldn't breathe anymore. As far as she could see, nothing was around her to make her not breathe. She could feel herself start to faint from lack of oxygen. Then she saw black. _

> > > > >

When Buffy woke she opened up her eyes to see a teddy bear sitting on top of her holding her mouth and nose. She immediately started to shake him off from herself.

Downstairs, someone finally picked up on the other end of the phone. "911, what's your emergency?" the operator asked.  
"Hi, I need an ambulance, at 1630-" Dawn heard a click and she paused. "Hello? Hello?" She looked at Joyce. "The phone is dead."  
"We need to get to Buffy," Joyce said, running for the stairs with Dawn close behind.  
They burst into the bedroom and were shocked by two things: one, Benji was smothering Buffy, and two, Buffy was very awake, and fighting him off.  
"Benji, no!" Dawn yelled, grabbing the bear and pulling him off of her sister.

Once Benji was off of her, she wiped away the blood that covered her face. She took a deep breath before picking up the bear and throwing it in a garbage can, which she was pretty sure he couldn't get out of. She took a look at Dawn's bruised face and grimaced. "What happened to you, Dawnie?"

Dawn tried to look angry, but was too relieved that her sister was okay to be. "You kind of broke my nose. While you were dreaming or whatever." She glanced nervously towards the garbage can. "But we have bigger problems right now. Mainly a very pissed off teddy bear named Benji. That is property of Ethan Rayne."

Meanwhile, Benji landed in a carton of Mini Wang Wang's all you can eat Chinese food. Benji narrowed his eyes in disgust and tried to claw his way out. He was going to kill them...KILL THEM ALL..

> > > > >

Angel, aka the vampire with a soul, walked down the darkened streets. He wanted to see Buffy, well he always wanted to see Buffy but this time it was important. Okay, no it wasn't, but he still was going to visit her anyway.

> > > > >

Buffy tried to think back to see if she remembered breaking Dawn's nose, but she had no luck. "Sorry sis, I don't remember, but what is your teddy bear trying to suffocate me for? I mean yeah your nose might hurt, but getting a teddy bear to kill me is a little harsh don't you think?" Buffy asked, annoyed hands on her hips.

"I have no idea, he just kind of walked in. Something about a full moon. But I spent like an hour convincing him NOT to murder me with a pair of Mom's scissors, and then I screwed up and sort of implied that I didn't want him alive, and now he's all homicidal again," Dawn rushed.

"I SWEAR, I'M GOING TO GET YOU FOR THIS..." Benji yelled as he climbed up the side of the trashcan. As he did it tipped over and spilt papers, soda cans, chicken bones, and the rest of the contents all onto the Summers' clean floor.  
"Okay I'll get you for this AFTER someone cleans this mess up," Benji yelled.  
"Buffy, are you...uhppphhh..." Just as Angel waltzed through the Summers' back door and past Joyce he slipped on a rotten banana peal and landed on the stinky garbage with his feet in the air.

Joyce winced as the garbage fell all over the floor. "I just cleaned in here! Oh, hello Angel."  
Dawn tried to suppress a laugh at Angel's less than graceful exit. She then turned her attention back to Benji. "Benji, if you insist on being like this, then I'm afraid we'll never be able to be friends again," she said, feigning sadness in hopes that the little bear would reconsider his plan to kill them all.  
Buffy tried not to giggle at Angel clumsiness, but she couldn't hold it in. She helped him up, and gave him a smile. "You're a graceful one, aren't you?" she said with a smirk. She then saw Benji come out of the garbage can. "I swear if that ball of fluff comes near me again, I will rip it into a million and one pieces," Buffy threatened, making sure Benji knew she was serious.

Angel let out a very audible groan as he pulled noodles from his hair and tossed them back down to the garbage. With his acute vampire senses he could tell that Ms. Summers had added too much oregano to her pasta again. "What is going on here?" he asked looking at Dawn's swollen noise and a little stuffed bear that was flipping him off.  
When Benji saw Angel looking at him he quickly shot his hand back down. He had heard Buffy's threat, but what scared him more was Dawn's, though he wasn't going to let it show.  
"FINE," he yelled, crossing his little furry arms that were now filthy, "But, _someone_ has to die..."

"How about you, furball?" Buffy said taking her attention away from Angel to pick on Benji. She actually liked the furball; she would never admit it but the bear was growing on her.

Dawn looked from Buffy, to Angel, to Joyce, to Benji, not knowing what to do or say. She did feel like this was all her fault. Why had she abandoned Benji for cuter, newer, cleaner toys? That was kind of mean. But then again she couldn't forget that he had tried to murder her with scissors...

"I DON'T WANT TO DIE," Benji said with all the hurt and pain he could muster, then he appeared to be shaking all over as if Buffy would make use of her threat. He was just a misunderstood pychotic stuffed bear, why couldn't they just see that.  
Angel looked from the bear to Dawn to Joyce then to Buffy and then back again. Finally he said, "Uh, is someone going to tell me how and why that bear is talking?"

"I honestly have no idea. I wake up from what was a very scary nightmare, and this furball is on top of me trying to suffocate me. I would like to know how he came to be alive as well," she said, looking at Dawn fiercely.

"Hey, I didn't do it!" Dawn protested. "I told you, Ethan Rayne, full moon, it's this whole big thing." She looked at Benji. "Benji, I'm sorry to break it to you but you are the one who started all of this violence! You attacked me with scissors, remember?"

"Yeah, well," Benji was at a complete loss, finally he stuck his little bear chin out and said, "YOU MADE ME HATE YOU!"  
Angel rolled his eyes. "How can he even talk, he doesn't even have a larynx! And if he doesn't have a larynx then he shouldn't talk." Shaking his head again and then shrugging Angel said, "Why don't we just find Ethan Rayne and then kill him?"  
"I hate you a lot less now," Benji said to the giant, dirty, stinky vampire before him.

Buffy nodded, but turned to Dawn "There is no way we're taking him with us, he could be a liability. Ya know, try to sabotage our whole plan to kill Ethan once and for all," she said, turning to glare at Benji.

"Do we even know where he is?" Dawn said out loud, to no one in particular. "And what else are we going to do? We can't just leave him here. We might not have a house to come back to."

"He lives over on 7th and 12th, it's a big spooky mansion so you can't miss it," Benji said with a wave of his furry little paw. And then realizing what Dawn meant he yelled, "I WON'T DO ANYTHING. I'll just sit around and bake cookies or something, like Snuggles does."  
Angel rolled his eyes, "Snuggles the bear? That's for laundry detergent."  
"THEN I'LL DO THE WASH," Benji shouted.

Dawn gave him a look. "Well when we come back we had better find things just how we left them."

"And if anything is out of place, and I mean anything you will be wishing you could never feel," Buffy warned before walking out of the house and to Ethan's mansion.  
Benji merely mumbled cursed words under his breath and watched them leave. Once the door slammed shut he turned to Joyce. He glared at her and picked back up the scissors. He walked slowly, very very slowly while looking at her with those black cold button eyes. As he finally approached her he lifted the scissors up and said, "I think I have something stuck in my fur, can you cut it off?"

> > > > >  
Buffy stood outside the mansion, and wondered what she was thinking bringing Dawn with her. "Dawnie, I don't know whats in there, so I don't want to put you in danger. You should go back to the house and make sure mom is alright with Benji." With that she took hold of Angel's hand and went inside the mansion.

Dawn stared after them. She was mad at first, but she did realize now that leaving her mom alone with Benji was pretty risky. And she did feel pretty much responsible for the entire situation, so she started to walk home. "They're probably not even going to do anything about Ethan, they're probably just going to make out," she mumbled to herself.

> > > > >

Suddenly the mansion door slammed shut behind them, making Angel grab Buffy. He felt the need to protect her after all, even though she could very much handle herself and he probably didn't smell all that welcome at the moment. He looked around hoping for a clue of some sort, but couldn't find anything other then dimly lit candles.

Buffy scooched closer to Angel, smelling him. She decided to look into one of the rooms. She motioned to Angel to follow her into a room that had a giant bed with a bathroom attached to it. Buffy jumped into Angel's arms when the door slammed behind them. She rushed over to it trying to pull it open. "It's locked."

"It is?" Angel asked, deciding just to try the door for himself. Yep, sure enough it was locked. He looked over at the bathtub and then at Buffy, the smell on his body was really getting to him."Well, since we're here, or since I'm here," he let his voice trail off hoping she got the hint.

Buffy nodded, trying to ignore the voices in her head to ask him if she could join. She just missed being with him so much lately. She was still freaked out by the dream she had with him earlier, and she wanted to convince herself that it was just a dream and he was still her Angel.

He quickly pulled off his clothes, letting his manly body show. He climbed into the water and washed himself as quickly as he could, knowing Buffy was probably uncomfortable.  
"Done," he said as he pulled on a bathrobe that happened to be lying nearby. It would kinda defeat the purpose if he wore the same stench filled clothes.

Buffy could feel her whole body heat up, but she tried to tame herself. She didn't know if he still had any feelings for her, it had been a while without him, and she missed him terribly. Missed talking to him, touching him, kissing him, and just being his. She looked up into his eyes and she could have melted.

Angel tried to stare down at the ground, but he couldn't help but raise his eyes to meet hers. "Since we're locked in, what do you want to do?"

Buffy blinked a few times, trying to get her focus back to rational thoughts. "I don't know, do you have any ideas?"

Angel looked down at the floor and then slowly his eyes slid back towards Buffy. He did this a few more times, wanting so much just to run up and hold her and kiss her, but he knew it wouldn't be right. Especially when there was evil on the loose. "I guess we should just try to figure out a way to get out of here," he said.

> > > > >

Joyce looked warily at Benji. "I don't see anything in your fur."  
Benji threw the scissors at Joyce, which thankfully missed. "It's right here, can't you see it?" He bent over so the woman could see his backside.  
Joyce gasped as she dodged the scissors, then widened her mouth in aggravation as the little stuffed toy mooned her. "Okay, that is it. No one hurts my girls and gets away with it," Joyce said, picking up the scissors and hovering over Benji.

> > > > >

TBC! Please review!


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